Dreamers Prologue - Job - Jiyu/Leila.

Panic and chaos. The battlefield was dominated by them as the blindingly white barrier erected around Leila, isolating her from the rest of the Reality. Everyone around was only able to helplessly watch as Unknown, the miracle demon placed his hand on the girl’s bosom and activated his power. A magical circle in the shape of a clock appeared behind her and started ticking out mercilessly, giving her but measly twelve seconds left with her current sense of self. The demon she thought was gone for good once again managed to insert himself into her life and dominate it to the very last bit. Was this her fate after all? The one mistake she made thousands of years ago and the one mistake that allowed her to live this life, to meet everyone she had ever met. A mistake that made her fall in love and then be broken. A mistake that made her be happy and smile every single day. A mistake that was her everything. In the end, her existence was cursed after all. A Void Spirit born to be alone and to wander forever, fading into the endless abyss at one point or another. But the demon did not let that happen. He approached Aurora and offered a deal. Power to create in exchange for her soul down the line. At that very moment, the girl knew nothing of emotions, nothing of words, she knew nothing at all for she was a creature born to live an empty existence.

With nothing to lose at all, she agreed and became capable of creating the Gardens of Eden after thousands of years of solitude. She learned of emotions and how it felt to not be alone. From nothingness, she gained everything. And only for it all to be taken away when the demon returned for her soul. In a desperate attempt to escape the demon’s clutches, the goddess created a spell that would allow her to be reborn, an act that would hopefully null the contract. But a force from Earthland, an old mage that was attempting to harness the power of Eden, made the spell fail and instead break Aurora’s soul into several pieces. Only two of them remained large enough to have their own will. Aurora and Leila. What was once a singular being was now two. And while Leila was born like this and started fresh as her own individual, she was still part of Aurora. She was still part of the contract. And the demon never went away. However, he decided to entertain himself by watching the two sisters eventually find one another and fight over control of their lives and the Gardens of Eden. That was the fated mission that was supposed to end everything. On that day, Leila entered the Gardens accompanied by her best friend, Jiyu Kazehime. A girl that she fell for but was denied for a certain male had already managed to steal her heart. On that day, everything was meant to end.

Gaining the favor of every single spirit present in this world, Leila grew powerful enough to face Aurora at the core of her own world. And there, they fought. With the help of Jiyu and her spirits, the silver-haired maiden emerged from the battle victorious and her bigger half, defeated from all sides, faded away. Leaving only a single ivory-white tree in the center of their world. She was to be gone forever, leaving Leila as the new Goddess of Eden. However, only mere weeks ago, something happened. That very friend who ensured Leila’s victory lost control over her own powers and went berserk. Unable to control the other sides of her persona, she lost herself in the endless sea of godhood. With seemingly no way to help her, the girl decided to finally end it all. Crushed by the death of her other half and slowly being consumed by the darkness of the demon, she decided to sacrifice her very existence in order to activate a Primordial Seal. A powerful ancient magic that could seal anything away for the right price. And she succeeded. As her body faded away into nothingness, Jiyu was her own again. And all four sides of her new self would enter a forced state of peace, at least for the time being. An existence only allowed to continue living by creating sacrifices. “A truly sad story, isn’t it… my Queen.”

An endless space, a Void. Leila’s consciousness was currently somewhere, where nothing else could reach her. And in front of her, the demon who called himself Unknown floated. Well… it was wrong to say that the girl was truly there. She was present, yet wasn’t. A strange state of non-existence, similar to the time where she sacrificed herself. It was as if her mind alone was in this world, but she had no physical body that she could control and use to interact with her environment. She was stuck in the complete sense of the word. Back then she was eventually revived by another miracle demon and became capable of continuing her adventure. “But is that how it really was? Yes, of course. But you see, while I did all those terrible things to you and Aurora… well, I won’t make any excuses. Just know that I want it all to end. So at least try to believe me when I say this - using that spell on you was the last thing I will ever do to you. Right now, we are in null space. And in few moments, that ability of mine will be finished. You want to know what it does, right? It will send your mind back in time. I will place it right back into the moment where you sacrificed yourself for that mutt friend of yours. My Queen, do you understand what that means? It’s a reset. A selfish desire of mine. You see, we Miracle Demons are cursed being as well. They say our power is literally limitless, but there is one thing it could never actually accomplish. I was never able to end my own existence…”

A strange feeling of sadness washed over Leila’s mind as she heard those words. Deep down, she knew how it was. She herself was immortal and even using the Primordial Seal did not truly erase her completely. It only made her suffer for what seemed like an eternity to her. “I’ve grown tired of living. For thousands upon thousands of years, I have gone on. Taking souls, giving others power only for it to turn back on them… it’s an endless cycle. And eventually, it became completely empty and hollow. Now, I just want to end my own existence and finally rest. So I’ve spent the last thousand years researching a way to do so. There is this world called Dreamland, you see? Closely tied to what you call home, Earthland. Its power is vast and if I could combine my Miracle energy with it’s Dream energy, perhaps I could finally erase myself. But very specific conditions have to be fulfilled before that can happen. Right now, the King of that world plans to try and force all of Earthland to fall asleep forever. With my power, I am able to see every possible result of actions of others. And I saw it… if you were to remain on the Floating Continent, I would never have my peace. So I’m sending you back, so you can go at it again. But this time, just in time for their invasion. You will try to stop it and give me my chance at my last dream.”

She was being used by the demon to fulfill his desire. But somehow, she did not mind. In the core, she always just wanted to help everyone. From the first moment on, even as she became a mage, she would go around and help people find their lost puppies or play tag with the children. She adored seeing smiles on the faces of others. And even if it was a demon that did so much harm to her, she wanted to help him reach his goal, so that he could stop feeling this suffocating darkness all around him too. “Heh, I’m not really sure why I’m telling you all of this. You will forget it all soon enough. It will be as if you woke up right after performing the seal. But worry not, I will leave few hints in your mind that will help you get your bearings again. And because it’s only you moving back in time, all that you did is not for nothing. You still made all those new friends and you will find them all again one day. Now, the spell is finally done. Good luck, my Queen. It will be a harsh journey.” And just like that, the black world became white once more. So blinding that the girl could only question herself if she still existed. With no body, just a cluster of a mind inside an endless pace. She floated on and on.

Feeling pain all over her body, she would slowly open her eyes to the dampness of an unfamiliar environment. Few seconds passed before she became able to move at least the tips of her fingers. Few more and her hands started moving. A minute or so passed and she got on all fours as she stared at the cold stone she was on, a sudden coughing fit forcing her body back onto the ground. A total of five minutes had to pass before she regained enough awareness and strength to get up onto her own two feet, stumbling to the side and harshly pressing her back against a nearby wall. Looking around, she finally recognized this place as some sort of fairly shallow cave. Looking her herself, she also noticed that the clothes she was wearing were not the same she remembered having. The fancy outfit with a top hat she always had was gone and replaced with a slightly more revealing ninja-like attire. What more, she appeared to be in her kemonomimi state. A state where her body gained an animal tail and ears, as well as much bigger fangs and few other features normally associated with animals. Something that occasionally happened when she used the golden bell, a magical item gifted to her by her spirits. She used this feature to try and calm Jiyu down when her more demonic canine form was first revealed during their fight with a mighty angel that took them to heavens in order to purify them.

Of course, she had no memories of using the item and becoming like this. But that hardly mattered, there was a massive headache plaguing her right now as she tried to walk forward. There was something on the ground right in front of where she awoke. Taking a closer look and grabbing the object, she realized it was a weapon of some sort. A mechanical blade made out of several parts. Once again, it was something she did not recall. Still, she would hold onto it, as she felt strangely compelled to. With this weapon on her back, she would finally reach the opening of the cave. Blinded by the sharp and suddenly light of the day, it took her eyes a bit to adjust. But it was well worth it, as she was finally greeted by a familiar sight, something that she could use as a point of reference. It was Rose Garden, a town she knew very well! And it was not very far either. A sudden jolt of pain ran through the girl’s head again as she suddenly realized something. The very last memory she had was of using the Primordial seal on her friend. Looking down on her hands, Leila entered a shock greater than ever before. While it was faint, her skin was covered in shining white marks. The seal was present on her! A panic quickly started spreading through her entire being as she stopped caring about her own well-being.

Focusing all her energy on her legs, she would leap out of the small cliff this cave was in and sprinted toward the Rose Garden. The fact that the seal was on her own body, did that mean her attempt to apply it to Jiyu failed? Was her friend okay? She cared for nothing until she would have that question answered. A state of blind panic consumed her completely as she bolted through the main gate to the city, completely ignoring the screams of guards behind her. People in her immediate area appeared as nothing more than faceless shadows, something that she did not care about in the least. She only ran forward, following no signs in particular. If one were to ask her later how she found her friend, she would probably just say that she followed her ‘gut’. An invisible string that was tugging her toward Jiyu’s location, one of the little clues that Unknown left with her as he mentioned. But because she did not remember that conversation anymore, it truly was nothing more than just a feeling. Not even feeling her legs anymore, she would grind her teeth and close her eyes until she just stopped. And opening those peepers again, she would finally see it. A girl with a canine tail, landing elegantly only fifty or so meters away and muttering something to herself while paying attention to something that was in the nearby trees. A behavior that she could only have if she was truly okay.

Tears would suddenly fill Leila’s eyes and uncontrollably spill out, running down her cheeks and then dripping to the ground as her legs gave out, the female’s form would fall to her knees right there on the spot as she stared at her friend. “Jiyu… it’s you, right? You’re okay… right?!” Her voice was shaking more than ever before, her mind in a clear state of distress that Jiyu had never witnessed her friend to be in before. Because right now, Leila was more confused than anything. Of course she was, she had thought that she sacrificed her very own existence in order to save this canine female. And yet, here she was. Feeling all these feelings inside of her, unable to properly contain them. People that were around would shoot confused looks at her too, for they surely did not expect to see one of the Wizard Saints appearing and falling to her knees, crying for seemingly no apparent reason. Thankfully, she did not care for those people at all. The person of her interest was right in front of her. Or at least that was what Leila hoped it, for she would be probably unable to take on the fact that what she was seeing was a mere illusion or something of the sort. She needed to make sure that Jiyu was okay right now. She just had to, or she would fall apart right there on the spot.

Word Count: 2,511 / 10,000   |   Tags: @Jiyu Kazehime